Black Hearts: The Original Game
Black Hearts: The Original Game, also known as simply Black Hearts, is an interactive text-adventure RPG game released by Q Games Studios in 2012. It was an extremely successful title, launching sales of over 3 copies of the game. It also spawned a game series that would fill in parts of the story directly before, during, and after the game. It was known for its revolutionary gameplay, that would change Q Games releases for months to come. Black Hearts was set in a time period far after even Q Games futuristic story of Project: Akin (to which this turned out not just to be a spiritual successor, but an unrelated sequel, though elements of Akin would be brought back in later games). Players originally were split into two different campaigns, the Rovoen and the Irini, each of which were not interactive. Later, as the game progressed, the stories intertwined and soon the adventure became fully interactive, leading to more unexpected gameplay. Setting Black Hearts is set in our own galaxy, but in a future that is exactly 1000 years after the actual date of release of the game. Humans have been through civil war, but when humanity discovers the lost city of Atlantis in 2714, war becomes even more dangerous. The Earth is then split up into several factions ruled by varying warlords, who (with the power of advanced Atlantean technology) can destroy each other in the brink of a second. This is all changed when parts of the world are united by the Velconum Empire, and others by the Irin Republic. The Velconum Empire is a nation that supports bioengineering in order to create a population of stronger and smarter individuals who want nothing to do but expand their boundaries. The Irin Republic is democratic, and condemn any forms of enhancement (although there are exceptions to this). They had a massive war on Earth, in space, and all over their planetary colonies in the human settlement zone known as the Near-Earth Sector. Recently, before the events of Black Hearts (in 3012), a peace treaty was signed between the factions, ending the war. But many believe that the peace treaty was just a show by the Velconi and that the galaxy is on the brink of war once again. But the Irini do not think they can handle another conflict with the Velconi, trying to please them to stop widespread destruction and suffering. Meanwhile, the Rovoen are an isolationist species of aliens living not far from the Near-Earth Sector. They are based on the planet Ro, but have settlements all over their moons and surrounding planets. Hassendor, known by another name in the Rovoen language, suddenly gets attacked by a Velconi forward assault fleet and conquered in a matter of days. Then, the fleet proceeds on to attack Ro itself, only to be pushed back by Rovoen defences. In rage, several Rovoen attack Hassendor (at which time now has Irini settlers), and the settlers send distress signals to the Navy to help. Plot Characters Trivia